The total mineral production to the end of 1902 is shown in the following table, in which the column "other minerals" again includes kerosene shale and kauri gum : New South Wales Victoria.. Queensland 49,844,135 33,781,756 6,164,879 6,661,399 41,701,442 4,678,830 142,832,441 411,661 266,944,930 362,569 66,936,274 South Australia ...... 532,444 26,447,469 2,483,326 Western Australia.. 38,097,374 Tasmania 237,160 138,370 23,254,571 38,758 21,072 335,062 237,982 417,809 39,346,459 5,195,161 2,603,750 4,499,028 7,519,284 486,998 338,007 20,642,228 * Inclusive of kauri gum of the value of £11,226,168. Coal was the only mineral raised in New South Wales prior to 1852, and its production up to that date was valued at £279,923. Deducting that amount from the total value of Australasian minerals raised up to the end of 1902, the remainder, £645,045,391, represents the value of mineral production from 1852, equal to an average of £12,647,949 per annum for the fifty-one years. TAK AGRICULTURE. AKEN as a whole, Australasia may be said to be just emerging from the first phase of agricultural settlement; indeed, several states have not yet wholly passed from the pastoral stage. Nevertheless the value of agricultural produce, estimated at farm prices, is considerable, and amounts to over 50 per cent. of the value of the pastoral and dairy produce. The average production from agriculture in each state for the last five years is shown below. While the returns in 1902 from several of the states were lower than usual, owing to adverse seasons, New Zealand had a remarkably favourable year, the wheat harvest in that colony being nearly 7,500,000 bushels as compared with 4,100,000 bushels in New South Wales and Victoria combined. In 1900, however, these two states produced 34,000,000 bushels as compared with 6,500,000 bushels in New Zealand, while present conditions are so favourable that in all probability the combined yield of the two states will amount to 54,000,000 bushels. From this estimate it would seem that the value of crops per acre cultivated is much larger in Queensland and Tasmania than in the other states of the Commonwealth, a fact which is due to the proportionately large area under sugar-cane in the former state, while in Tasmania the area devoted to fruit and hops, and the larger returns of cereals, account for the high average per acre which that province shows; in Western Australia, where the greater part of the produce consumed is imported, prices are higher than in the eastern states, and the small area devoted to the plough returns on an average a better price per acre than in the states where agriculture has received greater attention. In point of gross value, Victoria occupies the first position among the members of the Commonwealth group, the produce of that province having a value slightly in excess of one-fourth of that of all Australasia. The high position occupied by Victoria is in great measure due to the large return from wheat, potatoes, and from gardens and orchards. New Zealand also produces over one-fourth of the total, and New South Wales over one-sixth. The average value of the principal crops, and the percentage of each to the total production for the quinquennial period, 1899 to 1903, are given in the following statement : The principal crop is wheat, which returned 23 per cent. of the total value, hay coming next with 22.6 per cent. "Other" crops returned the large sum of £3,903,000-13.5 per cent.--to which, New Zealand alone contributed £3,020,000, the high value of the production in that province being due to the fact that there is an area of considerably over half a million acres devoted to the cultivation of turnips and other root crops, which are grown mostly as food for sheep. The average value of agricultural produce per head of population in each of the Australasian provinces during the last five years is represented by the following figures. It will be seen that New Zealand shows the highest value, followed in order by South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, and New South Wales. Queensland occupies the lowest position with a value of less than half that of South Australia. Comparisons of this kind are however somewhat misleading, as the main consideration is the extent of employment afforded by the industry and the return to the persons engaged therein. Below will be found the value of the agricultural production of the Commonwealth and New Zealand in the years 1871, 1881, and 1891. Comparing these figures with those given above, it will be seen that while the total production of Australasia now averages nearly £9,000,000 more than in 1881, the average value per head has declined over 12 per cent., and that, as compared with 1891, the value per head shows an increase of 12s. 3d. As subsequent tables will show, a decrease in prices, and not want of productiveness, was responsible for the decline in value since 1881. The fall in prices, especially of wheat, was very rapid down to 1895; for the next three years there was a very material increase; in 1899 they fell again to the 1895 level, but in 1901 there was a more or less general increase; while towards the close of 1902, when the effects of the adverse season were acutely felt, prices rose to double those of the previous year. Compared with the principal countries of the world, Australasia does not take a high position in regard to the gross value of the produce of its tillage, but in value per inhabitant it compares fairly well; indeed, some of the provinces, such as South Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania, show averages which surpass those of the leading agricultural countries. This may be partly seen from the following table, which gives approximately for 1891-95 the value of agricultural production in the principal countries of the world, with the average amount per head of population : The following figures, giving the total extent of land in cultivation in each of the Commonwealth states and New Zealand at different periods since the year 1871, will serve to illustrate the progress which agriculture has made. In this table, and in the others which follow, the years 1871, 1881, 1891, and 1902 embrace the period from the 1st April in each of those years to the 31st March in the following year : |